• one in three pupils leaves primary school unable to write properly, and one in four unable to add up properly;

• there has been a rise of 30 per cent in the number of failing schools in one year. A total of 213 schools were made subject to special measures over the past year, compared to 160 in 2002-3 (Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools 2003/04, February 2005);

• 44,000 pupils leave secondary school without any GCSEs at all (GCSE and Equivalent Results for Young People in England 2003/04 (provisional), DfES, October 2004);

• a teacher is assaulted every seven minutes (NASUWT Press Release, 3 April 2003, and Times Educational Supplement, 6 August 2004);

• truancy is up by a third and over one million children play truant each year (Hansard, 30 April 2003, Col. 413WA, and DfES, Pupil Absence in Schools in England 2003-2004, 14 December 2004). The National Audit Office reported in 2005 that, despite massive spending of £885 million on truancy initiatives, ‘unauthorised absence [truancy] has not declined’ (NAO, Improving School Attendance in England, 4 February 2005); and

• appeals panels overrule head teachers in one in five cases, forcing them to readmit pupils they have expelled. Of 1,070 appeals made in the last year for which figures are available, 21 per cent were upheld – putting 210 expelled pupils back into the classroom (Hansard, 31 January 2005, Col. 506WA).

• We will slim it down so teachers don’t have so much paperwork.

• We will review tests, GCSEs and A Levels to restore public confidence in our education system.

• And we will root out political correctness, replacing it with the building blocks of knowledge that are essential to give every child their birthright: a decent education.

• We will give parents the Right to Choose how and where their children are educated – ending the closure of popular special needs schools.

• We will cut back on the ‘rights’ culture, the ‘all must have prizes culture’ and the ‘inclusion at all costs’ culture, which Mr Howard will say ‘have undermined teachers’ authority in our classrooms and standards in our schools’

• We will set out plans to give head teachers complete control over expulsions from their schools.

• We will start moves to abolish independent appeals panels, which Labour gave the power to overrule head teachers and governors, and which can force a school to re-admit disruptive pupils.

• We will issue instructions to axe two-thirds of the bureaucrats at the DfES.

• We will order immediate action to restore exam standards.

• We will sack the interfering University Access Regulator and abolish his office.

• We will begin to abolish restrictions which stop good schools expanding and new ones opening.

• We will establish a School Expansion Fund to fund 600,000 additional school places to give more parents the opportunity to send their children to schools with good discipline.

• We will outline action to abolish tuition fees for all students in higher education.

• We will introduce a Teacher Protection Bill to give teachers protection from malicious allegations, and guarantee them anonymity until criminal charges are brought. We will ensure teachers are not subjected to legal challenge merely for upholding discipline in the classroom.